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“We taking backup?”He glanced at the few goblin guards still standing.
“Not everyone can slip skins for long.You want to explain our existence to the humans?”
“No.”He flashed a cheeky grin that almost said he wasn’t worried.Almost.“We can take her together.”He managed the lie with a straight face, but the doubt in his gaze gave him away.
Vori didn’t want to think about their options if they couldn’t beat Petra.“We’ll protect your father and everyone else.”She pulled a blade across her fingertip and hissed.Expecting the pain didn’t make it any easier.“We’re traveling on minimum blood this time.Only enough to make through.We’ll need everything we have for the fight.”
“How’s your shoulder?”
“I’ll be fine.”Another lie heaped on the growing pile between them.“I won’t slip skins until I have to.”She drew the sign of the royals—the blood crown—on his wrist.
“Why not on my forehead like last time?”
“It’s only for the trip through.Everyone knows you’re my consort.”She glanced at the slim gold band that declared he was hers, trying to ignore the stab of possessiveness that told her to protect him, to be a better queen to him.“We go in, stop Petra, and get out.”That plan hadn’t worked so well coming to this realm, but here was hoping.“We’ll need to get back to the glass fast.Or it’ll close, Baba will destroy it, and we’ll be trapped.”
“How long do we have?”
“I don’t know.A few hours?Maybe less.”
“What if we get separated?”
“You’ll need me to return to Kradnovtl.If I’m running out of time, or if you’re not there…” She didn’t want to think about the possibility.
“You’ll have to leave me.I would be trapped there without you.”The sadness in his voice held a grief of being left behind that whispered to the wound carved into her heart from leaving her mother behind.“I don’t want to lose you.”The quiet words brushed over her skin, the same as a caress.
“You won’t.”But was she convincing him or herself?Because if she fought Petra, if she let go of control, she might never find her way back from the savage beast she would become.
He ghosted a touch against her wrist where the cuff had been, swallowed so hard that his throat worked against the consort band.“We stay together, let my superthief wife steal the amethysts, and jump worlds back to Kradnovtl before it’s too late.We can do this.”
They’d better.The ticking clock wouldn’t give them time to figure out a better plan or screw up this one.“Let’s go.”Sweeping droplets of blood over the stones, she ignored the clench in her gut.She held her breath in anticipation of what might wait for them on the other side.
The amethysts of the goblin glass sparkled, and the mist parted to reveal the cave they’d come through.Every muscle in her body tensed, preparing for a fight if Petra had waited to trap them.As they had tried and failed to do for her.But no, the cave stood empty.The only movement inside was the flickering purple glow of the glass.
Perry squeezed her hand.“So far, so good.”
“Alexei will have someone watching the cave.Knowing my cousins, he and Alys will be at the end of the trail any minute.”
He stopped, studying her in the violet shine of the jewels.“You’ll have to say good-bye to your adopted family.”
“I know.”The hardest part of this had been knowing that if she and Perry won against Petra, if they made it back to Kradnovtl, she would have to give up the family that sheltered her, loved her.She dreaded the loss.“One catastrophe at a time.”She breathed in to steady herself and froze at the strong scent in the air.“Smoke.Another wildfire?We’ve had so many this year.”They moved faster.“What’s left to burn?”
Coming out of the cave, a red blood moon loomed above, and smoke smeared across the sky in an eerie orange glow.It was so dark.
“That’s no wildfire.”He was right.Flames blazed out of control in the city below.Ribbons of flickering orange and red and gold stretched endlessly.
“LA is burning.”Shock spread cold across her skin.
“Where are the lights?”
That’swhat was missing.The sprawling city below should sparkle with miles and miles of blaring city lights.Streetlights.High rises.Sirens.Sweeping spotlights of premiers and nightclubs.Strings of headlights and long ropes of taillights on the freeways.Instead, there was nothing but darkness.
Without missing a step on the trail leading out of the park, Perry stretched his fingers as though reaching for something.“My magic constantly searches for a refill.There’s no electrical source to tap.”
“But this is LA.How can there be no power?”
“A natural disaster maybe?”
“What about my family?Your dad?”Her stomach clenched, and her skin went paler than the ash raining from the sky.
